Cerebras Systems is doubling down on Europe. The Sunnyvale wafer-scale chipmaker (NASDAQ: CBRS) and Finnish operator Compute Nordic Finland this month unveiled a new AI data centre in Mikkeli that will scale to 165 MW of contracted IT capacity under a series of seven-year service orders. Construction has already begun on the initial 50 MW phase.
Seven-year contracts, phased ramp
The Mikkeli campus is a phased build-out: 50 MW → 80 MW → a full 165 MW as delivery progresses. Ramboll's Finnish Data Center Market Study estimates the project represents €1.0-1.7 billion of regional investment at full scale, supports 80-250 direct permanent jobs and delivers €0.8-2.5 million per year in local property tax. Compute Nordic Finland CEO Pyry Virrantaus called the deal “a contractually committed, phased build-out that reflects exactly how much AI compute the market needs today.”
More AI per megawatt — and heat reuse for South Savo
The facility uses closed-loop cooling that recirculates water rather than drawing continuously from municipal supply. Waste heat feeds into the surrounding district heating system, an approach Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman said reflects the company's mission to “get more useful AI output out of every megawatt we deploy.” Cerebras is prioritising permanent operations, power, cooling, networking and security roles over short-lived construction jobs.
Feeding the OpenAI backlog
Mikkeli is a large slice of the 200 MW of European capacity Cerebras had targeted by 2027, alongside French and Nordic sites. It also underpins Cerebras' $25.4B remaining performance obligations backlog, most of which stems from its Master Relationship Agreement with OpenAI to supply up to 2 GW of inference capacity. It joins a wave of European AI infrastructure deals including Google's Iowa nuclear restart and Nscale's Figure compute commitment.
Reporting based on coverage from Cerebras press release, GlobeNewswire and Yahoo Finance.